My Y2 DS has been a wakes-up-happy, loves everyone, even-tempered person since birth. No terrible twos, no hitting, no biting, no nothing. Until he discovered football.
He becomes a helpless, snot covered, grass throwing, humiliating lunatic if the team he's playing for loses, if the team he supports loses, or if the team to whom he has randomly assigned the likelihood of winning loses.
Examples: He spent an hour sobbing uncontrollably and googling 'Holland wins world cup' when he woke up to find Spain had won. He tried to run away from home when Ronaldo transferred to Real Madrid. He spent half an hour this afternoon lying in the middle of a football pitch and crying hysterically when his team lost 1 out of 3 of their Sunday league games.
I have tried reasoning, I have tried screaming, I have tried bribing, I have tried removing him from the game to allow his emotional maturity to catch up. No joy. I have tried letting him lose in a safe space. I have tried modelling good loser behaviour. I have tried letting him play only in games where the score isn't being kept. He keeps score anyway, oh, and compiles player statistics, and ends up snotty and screaming when reality fails to match his expectations or desires.
Do I have any option but to pull him from the after-school/Sunday activities? Has anyone successfully reprogrammed their kid? Please advise. Have long reached the end of this particular tether.